Cupid 2.0

So, do you remember that really awesome show from the late 90s called Cupid that was on ABC? You don't? Huh. Neither do most people. It was a great romantic dramedy starring Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall as a nutso (or is he?) guy named Trevor who claims to be a banished Cupid and his therapist, respectively. Trevor/Cupid has to match 100 couples before he can return to Olympus, but is he crazy, or is he really Cupid? It was AWESOME, I tell you. Whatever, ABC used to be cancel-happy back in the day, so it was toast.

A few days ago, The Hollywood Reporter reported that ABC has seen the error of their ways (plus, now that creator Rob Thomas, one of the most AWESOMEST people EVER, creator of one of my favoritest, if not my favoritest, TV show EVER, Veronica Mars, is famous within the industry because of said amazing show) and has greenlit a new version of Cupid. What the hell? I'm not going to lie... I am both nervous and excited about it. Believe me that I am going to be keeping an eye on this project until its fruition.

Needless to say, both original stars will not be involved. Jeremy Piven is now a multiple Emmy winner for his role as frenetic superagent Ari Gold on Entourage, and Paula Marshall, a Thomas stalwart (from Cupid to the David E. Kelley-created/Thomas-helmed Snoops to a recurring role as guidance counselor Rebecca James on Veronica Mars), has made some slightly frightening guest spots on shows in the last season - from vomitting on Californication to shitting on Nip/Tuck. Yes, you read that right.

So, Cupid, huh? I'm not going to lie... a resurrection of Veronica Mars would have been more welcome. But I'll take take this for now.

Veronica Mars 3.15: Papa's Cabin

"Well, first, I'd break into someone's office, act really weaselly, and then ask their advice."

The final episode of the Who Killed Dean O'Dell arc has come to an end, and the final mystery arc of the season. And maybe of the entire series. Which really sucks, but hopefully Dawn Ostroff (Creative VP of Programming at The CW, and ex-head of UPN) won't inflict this on the show. The whole point is that it's a mystery show. Whatever. ANYWAYS, the final episode of the arc was pretty insane. I remember reading an interview with Rob Thomas saying that this final episode of the arc would be different from all other arc finales in that as opposed to Veronica solving the mystery halfway through the episode, then being menaced by the killer/culprit at the end, then saved by someone else (being chased through a junkyard by Aaron Echolls, then saved by Keith; threated by a gun and tasered on the Neptune Grand roof by Beaver, then saved by Logan; beaten up by Mercer in the dorm hallway, then saved by Parker), she was going to deduce through logic the killer and have a Sherlock Holmes finale that way. And boy, was it awesome.

In other storyland, Veronica gives her blessing for Logan and Parker to start dating, even though it kinda pains both of them; there is going to be a special election to determine the sheriff of Balboa County (or is it Neptune County now? Hmmm... are the continuity fairies overlooking this, or is there some reasonable real estate reason that this has changed that I'm unaware of?) since Keith is taking over only temporarily.

The explanation of the crime is completely convoluted and complicated, but I wouldn't have it any other way: Mindy explains that Dean O'Dell barged into the hotel room, confronts her and Landry, then tells Landry that he's gonna fire him and take away his tenure. He storms off and she's the one who visits his office during the time that Nish, Claire, and Fern were egging the office. She calms him down, giving him the Xanax, then returns to an empty hotel room. Landry is arrested, but he counters that the Dean also threatened Mindy with the pre-nup and she'd get ZIP. Mindy skips town after getting the life insurance check (which totally makes Mindy O'Dell a femme fatale in terms of the plot), and she buys a boat. Veronica and Tim team up to free Landry, and get him freed due to some fake alibi with a stripper bumming a smoke off him. By the time Keith figures that it's a fake alibi, Landry's skipped town looking for Mindy, who he believes framed him. Veronica listens to Landry's phone calls, hears a reference to "Papa's Cabin," and also hears Landry totally trash Tim to a potential employer. Awkward.

Keith is the one who solves what Papa's Cabin refers to, which is a Cabo getaway, and the scene in which he does it is absolutely hilarious since you have Veronica and Tim giving ridiculous reasoning as to where Landry could be, when Keith is all "Cabo. Duh!" Great. Anyways, in Cabo, we see that Landry has "accidentally" killed Mindy, which lands him in jail, as well as framing Batando to save Mindy, who he feels was the killer. Landry's arrested, Tim's made professor of the course, and he asks Veronica to be his TA. AH, but WAIT. All is not done: the missing piece of clue is the phone bug, which Veronica discovers in her phone, and she figures that Tim is the real killer, framing Landry for trashing him for this job. And they have a stare-down in the classroom which is amazing.

And I spot UCLA grad on Veronica Mars #3 in this episode: Robert Bastron, who plays one of Veronica's classmates. The others being Tanya Chisholm, playing Nancy Cooper (Rape Victim #...3 or something), and the eternally awesome James Jordan, who played Lucky the school-shooting janitor in Season Two and Tim now. Which means that Dean O'Dell's killer once gave me a drunken wedgie. Kinda cool.

This episode was pretty great, but it was a bit different than the previous ones, not because of the lack of thriller-ness, which a lot of people didn't care for, but because catching O'Dell's killer wasn't of super-major intensity to Veronica (whereas finding Lilly's killer and the bus bomber was, and the rapist became important once he tried to rape Veronica), so there was a lack of... conenction, despite the fact that she liked O'Dell so much. Alas. But, still awesome stuff. But, now, six weeks off, thanks to Who Will be the next Whore Pussycat Doll or whatever it is.

All in all: A-

Until then, same bat time, same bat channel.

Veronica Mars 3.14: Mars, Bars

"By all means, tell me the forensics results in front of Neptune's favorite amateur crime-fighting duo!"

WHAT THE FUCK???!!!!??

Oh, Rob and Co., what did you do?! This episode was full of WTF moments in both the murder-mystery and the personal. Of the mystery WTFs: Josh takes Mason hostage in his trunk! Mindy O'Dell or Professor Landry could have been the killers since their alibis don't match up! Weevil discovers bloody evidence! Veronica is accused of bugging Landry's phone! When she didn't! Of the personal WTFs: Mac loses her virginity! To Bronson the Vegan Goody-Goody! Logan and Parker have a spark!

And, the most WTF-iest of the WTF moments: they killed Sheriff Lamb! Those bastards!

Veronica Mars has a history of killing characters. In essence, this is a murder mystery show - three of the four mysteries have revolved around a death or deaths (the Heart serial rapist is the only mystery not to claim any victims). But, they've never killed off a regular in mid-season! The only regular to bite it thusfar has been Beaver, and that was at the end of last season when he was revealed as the bus crash mastermind. Plenty of recurrings have died throughout the years (Lilly Kane, obviously; Aaron Echolls, Kendall Casablancas, Meg Manning, etc.), but... wow. And the CW didn't do the "One of the characters will DIE!" thing, of which I'm very impressed. I didn't even believe that Lamb was going to die, even when he was lying on the floor, blood gushing out of his skull after being bashed by Steve Botando. I still can't believe it, even after Keith confirms it and is promoted to Sheriff.

Anyways, onto the story: The murder-mystery-within-the-murder-mystery was wrapped up, and it is discovered that Coach Berry was dying and actually committed suicide. While that was a fine twist (plus all the "double indemnity" stuff totally harkened back to '40s noir), it sucked that the last encounter with Josh was an angry one. Pretty tragic for both of them. But I loved having Mason bound and gagged in the trunk, probably because I really thought he was totally arrogant and whatever. Too bad he didn't do it. Plus, Keith was about to be totally shot by Mrs. Berry, except for the fact that she wasn't. Sooo many red herrings.

Speaking of: I'm usually really good with keeping the details straight of the Veronica Mars mysteries of years past, but this time, I'm totally lost. In the sense of the new development. I know now that Mindy O'Dell and Professor Landry's alibis are in the shitter since now the timeline has been pushed back an hour because the Clippers game Landry claims to have watched actually aired an hour later than thought. Bam! Either of them could have done it. But I'm totally lost as to how Veronica gets to that conclusion.

No! No! Can't... claim... I.... don't.... understand... Must... LIE!!!

I totally got it. I understand all.

Why does that sound like something Amanda from Ugly Betty would say? Think about it.

Since Mindy and Landry are the prime suspects, they obviously aren't the killers. Steve Botando, Mindy's ex-husband who got his BONE MARROW STOLEN by Mindy and the Dean, was somehow involved, but was shot by Sacks after he bashed in Lamb's skull (sob!). Then, that leaves Tim Foyle as a suspect, trying to frame Landry. Or is it shady businessman Mel Stoltz, who was also involved with Coach Berry? My thought (and what I hope is true) is that it's a conspiracy between Nish, Fern, and Claire, as revenge for reinstating the Greek system and invalidating the chaos from the serial rapist.

I do love how this mystery, while completely separate from the rapist plot, is totally affected and intertwined with it. So, it still feels like a season-long mystery, though they are technically separate. And I love the continuity fairies, who I guess have deemed it that in the Neptune universe, whenever a character is dying or dead, the smell of food is always present (Lamb's last words are "I smell bread"; when Veronica thinks Keith is dead, she has a dream where he's in the kitchen and says "Do you smell bacon?").

In personal land, Veronica and Logan are broken up and not emo anymore, Mac and Bronson are dating (and fucking, as we see), Logan begins to have twitches for Parker, and Veronica is appropriately weirded out. When are she and Piz gonna finally get together? Stupid teen angsty drama!

The mystery is wrapped up next week, and I can't fucking wait.

RIP Sheriff Don Lamb. We hardly knew ye.

All in all: A

Until next time, same bat time, same bat channel.

- Cesar